The new LPE1 (leasehold property enquiries), LPE2 (consumer summary) and FME1 (freehold management enquiries) forms will be put into use from January 11, 2022.

The Conveyancing Association, Law Society, Cilex (which represents legal executives), the Society of Licensed Conveyancers, the Association of Residential Managing Agents, the Association of Retirement Housing Managers, the British Property Federation, the Institute of Residential Property Management, the Right to Manage Federation and Arla Propertymark (representing lettings agents) are all encouraging their members to use the forms from the launch date.

The forms now include the unique property reference number (UPRN) with updated fields in the PDFs. 

These versions of the forms ask administrators whether they can accept notice served by email and receive the payments via the banking system to make the process more efficient.

This is the third version of the LPE1 form with a number of new additional questions and amendments made. 

For example, it establishes whether there are any restrictions on keeping pets or parking.

The form also asks whether a fire safety or an external fire wall assessment has been carried out and whether there are urgent works required as a result. 

It is hoped this will allow those marketing the property to identify material facts around cladding more easily.  

A portal to access external wall system reviews has been created by the Fire Institute Association: the Building Safety Portal.

The freehold management enquiries (FME1) form is on its second version and contains a number of additional questions including who deals with the deed of covenant, on contributions to the service charge and access to insurance.

The forms can be downloaded for free from the trade bodies’ websites and are also available via the law firm stationers from today so that any systems using or pre-populating the forms can be updated in time.

Conveyancing Association director of delivery Beth Rudolf says:“The industry has committed to ensuring the forms are up to date and continually assessed to make sure they ask for all the necessary information. These new iterations of the forms do just that, and particularly in light of the ongoing issues many leaseholders are having with their building’s fire safety, it is clearly very important that all stakeholders have full upfront and transparent information on this aspect of the property. We’ll continue to review these forms to make sure they are fit for purpose going forward and in particular as there becomes greater clarity over the need for external wall assessments and access to them.”

Arma chief executive Nigel Glen says: “We are pleased with the comprehensive additions to the forms, in particular the addition of the (usually belated and highly emotive) matter of pets and the LPE1’s request for information on building safety. 

“We hope the latter will help towards freeing up leaseholders to sell on properties where the fire risk is minimal. We also welcome the addition of the UPRN field as a means of encouraging its adoption across the residential building stock, the benefits of which have long been known.”